Army Leads Contract Dollars

14 Oct 2008

My colleague Mike Fabey has a very interesting mid-year look at defense spending. Biggest surprise -- the Army leads in contract awards in spite of the hefty contracts involved in fixed wing aircraft. Biggest yawn -- Boeing, Lockheed and Northrop are one two and three in defense contract awards. The story appeared in an Aerospace Daily analysis of data provided by the National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting (NICAR). The biggest winners in the short term -- companies providing oil and gas to the military.

The enormous amount of money sloshing around in the Army's coffers helps explain why AUSA's conference was so dynamic this year.

"Army transactions tallied about $33 billion by the mid-year point, with an average of about $470,000 per contract or contract modification.

The U.S. Navy came in second with about $25.2 billion in transactions, for an average of about $331,000 per contract or modification. The Air Force trailed with about $16 billion, or $416,000 per transaction.

While the Army is not a major force in fixed-wing costs, the service was the lead for many of the other top Pentagon contracts and modifications, such as helicopters, tracked tactical vehicles and trucks, the analysis shows.

As would be expected, the big three defense contractors tallied the highest. Boeing came in first with about $9 billion, followed by Lockheed Martin with $7.4 billion and Northrop Grumman with $5.4 billion.

One surprise in the top 10 contractors is Sikorsky, with $3.1 billion, which apparently has moved up the ranks thanks to its work on Navy helicopter programs. The company is also one of the competitors vying for the U.S. Air Force's $15 billion combat, search and rescue (CSAR-X) program.

SNIP

Other up-and-comers on the DOD contracting list include the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company For Distribution, which came in 12th with a single contract for about $918 million, and The Bahrain Petroleum Company, which came in 20th with three contracts worth about $537 million."